The invention relates to a pedal unit for operating a vehicle with a clutch and a brake pedal supported in a support structure which can be mounted on a wall, particularly the front wall of the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle.
EP O4 30 600 A1 discloses a pedal unit with at least one pedal and a pedal lever connected hereto. It is the object of the pedal unit to facilitate the mounting which is achieved by the use of various molded plastic parts including the housing and the pedals. The pedals are pre-mounted onto the housing so as to form a unit which can then be mounted to a part of the vehicle.
Furthermore, WO 94/29584 A1 discloses a pedal unit for operating a vehicle with which there is no need for a direct mechanical connection between the pedal and the vehicle drive unit. This is achieved by the combination of simple mechanical parts with a position sensor.
However, the vehicle operating pedal units known from these references have the disadvantage that, during a crash, they can be pushed far into leg room of the passenger compartment since the brake unit and the operating rod associated therewith transmit the forces occurring during a crash to the pedals and the pedals can be tilted, because of their support points and the orientation of the brake operating rod, about the mounting points of the brake pedal unit such that they move far into the leg room of the passenger compartment. This may result in injuries particularly to the legs of the driver.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a vehicle operating pedal unit by which, in case of a crash, the vehicle operator is not subjected to injuries resulting from a movement of the pedals into the legroom of the vehicle.